But, I really don't eat that much!

When and how did this weight creep up on me? One day I was a size 8 or 10, and just a few short years later it seems they are making clothes smaller than they used to!
How do we gain weight when we aren't really eating that much? The answer is, just as slowly as we lose it when we are on a calorie-restricted intake--a little bit at a time.
In fact, just because we noticed the weight all of a sudden doesn't mean we gained it all of a sudden. You might be gaining just one half pound a month. Not even noticeable for a year or so. In two years it has added up to a 12 pound total and you seem to have bumped up into the next clothing size "all of a sudden".
Even though you don't binge and gorge on food, and you may be actually trying to eat wisely most of the time, it doesn't take much to put on a few pounds a year.

Experts believe that it may come down to as little as 50 calories difference a day, and here's how: It takes approximately 3500 calories to equal one pound. Eat an extra 3500 calories and you gain a pound; exercise to burn an extra 3500 calories and you lose a pound. And this is true over a period of time. If you change your intake or exercise by 50 calories a day, it will take 70 days to change your weight by one pound. Certainly not a desirable rate if you are trying to lose weight! (Seventy days is more than two months.) But if you are taking in just 50 extra calories a day (say you've developed a new habit of popping a couple of chocolates in the afternoon, or switched to a large side of fries instead of a medium those 3 days a week you drive through the fast food place for lunch) you will end up gaining about five pounds during the period of a year. And what if you change jobs or houses and no longer walk a couple of flights of stairs every day or you now park closer so you're not walking as many steps each day? It could make the difference of 50 calories a day you are no longer burning--which translates to gaining five pounds this year.

Take a close look at your habits. You don't have to be eating huge amounts of food to be gaining weight over a long period of time. It might be a very small change you've made. The good news is, by making a very small change now, you can weigh five pounds less next year at this time! The slow weight loss is a trade-off for a small change--bigger changes mean faster weight loss. What can you change in your diet to take in 50 fewer calories a day? A bit less salad dressing or a lower fat variety? A smaller portion or a healthier snack? What about exercise--can you walk just ten more minutes a day or take the stairs instead of the elevator? These small changes will add up to a small weight loss month after month, until you're back into the size you like to be :)

Make It Easy

Trying to figure out what to eat can be so overwhelming... make it easy!
Here's a great image of a food guide pyramid--not what the modern version looks like anymore, but an easy way to remember what to eat and how many servings to have.
If you choose the minimum recommended servings from each group (6 servings of grains, breads, and cereals; 2-3 fruits and 3-4 vegetables; 2-3 dairy servings; and 6 oz of lean meat per day) while limiting fats and sweets, your intake will be as low as 1200 calories, believe it or not. That's a low enough calorie intake for virtually anyone to lose weight.
Now, most people's first reaction is, "what? That's so much food!". Then I have them relate their usual intake, and their impression changes to "What? A serving of cereal is only 3/4 of a cup? A serving of chicken is just three ounces? I'd be starving!"
So maybe you don't have to crash your intake from 2200 calories all the way down to 1200 to lose weight. The idea isn't for you to go hungry. The plan should be for you to eat healthy foods so you get your nutrition, while you get enough of things that you like to maintain a feeling of satisfaction.
Just use the food guide pyramid as a starting point, and work out a compromise between their recommendations and your current diet. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Be sure to include several servings of dairy products each day: Milk, yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese count--ice cream and cream cheese don't! Additional intake of calcium and other nutrients found in dairy products have been shown to help people lose weight.
2. Focus on increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables: While getting essential vitamins and minerals, you'll also be getting fiber and feeling more full, leaving less room for snacking on empty calorie items like chips and cookies. Plus, it's good for your mindset to be focusing on taking in more of some foods when you're trying to lose weight, instead of being preoccupied with what you plan to deprive yourself of.
3. Don't be afraid to include starches (carbohydrates) in your diet: But do so in moderation. One cup per meal is well within recommendations (cereal, mashed potatoes, rice, pasta) but that doesn't include a few rolls on the side!
4. Know what a portion of protein looks like (the size of a deck of cards) and stick to it: People forget, with all the hype of low carb diets, that protein foods provide calories, too. From lean fish and chicken that can have as little as 50 calories per ounce, fatty meats can provide more than 90 calories per ounce. If you indulge in a 12 ounce steak, you could be taking in over 700 calories at one sitting before you count the baked potato with sour cream and butter! (Hint: the baked potato is the least of the culprits in a meal like this!)
5. Get the facts: The food guide pyramid has been designed and re-designed over the years with the input of nutrition expert groups from across the nation. When you don't know what to believe, look to the organizations whose job it is to help you learn them. The American Dietetic Association, the USDA, the American Heart Association, and American Diabetes Association are good starting places. They're not trying to sell you anything so they have no ulterior motives when they all repeat the same advice: Keep your diet lower in fat, higher in fiber, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and get regular exercise!

Five-Tip Friday: Planning Exercise for the Weekend

The weekend's almost here, finally! You've had a busy five days, and maybe little time to work in exercise. Now that the weekend is upon us, you may have some free time to look forward to. How will you use it? Are you just going to while away more than 48 hours off, lazing in front of the tv? I hope not! Here are some ways you can get in a couple of hours of exercise and feel good about how you've used your time when you start back to the work week on Monday:

1. Consider starting your weekend exercising after work on Friday. What a great way to work off some of the week's stress and get an extra hour of exercise in. Maybe you can find a class at your gym that's offered Friday evening, or maybe your family will join you for a bike ride.
2. Find some exercise buddies. Any activity can be more fun when you're doing it with people whose company you enjoy. Walking, hiking, horseback riding, or jogging can all be done while having an enlightening conversation with friends. Invite some neighbors to join you and set up a time now--you'll be more likely to follow through with it then.
3. Find a local activity in your newspaper. There may be all kinds of group activities going on that are specially scheduled each weekend. Maybe a 10K run or a fundraising walk for a medical charity. Many times there aren't rules about whether you walk or run the route, or even rollerblade it! You can feel good about working out and contributing to a cause at the same time.
4. Check out local community programs Your community may offer some programs in swimming, adult dodge ball, softball, or other leagues. Remember how much fun you had doing these activities when you were a kid? There's still fun to be had!
5. Try a new activity Is there something you've been thinking about trying? Yoga, kickboxing, or ballroom dancing? Find a studio near you and sign up for some weekend classes. You'll be doing something you look forward to and doing your body a favor by staying active!

Please, post here to let us know what you've tried and how you enjoy your active weekends!

Too Many Options

I have a quote sitting on a sticky-note on my desk (actually I have about 17 of them, but they are all meaningful!) that says, "Too many options limit your commitments; too many commitments limit your options". To me this means that taking on too many activities, duties, or obligations results in having to say no to other opportunities that come along. It makes me think twice about taking on something new. I want to be sure to have the time and energy to expend on a future endeavor that I may find enjoyable or worthwhile. Too many commitments limit your obligations.

The other side of the quote is that too many options limit your commitments. When there are too many things available it makes our heads spin and we just don't know what to choose. Here are some instances of this: Which phone plan should I choose? Unlimited minutes? Unlimited texting? Family Plan? Two year contract?
What brand of jeans should I buy? Low rise? Button Fly? Flare Leg? Faded?
What flavor of coffee should I order--with or without foam? caffeine? fat? hot or cold?
How would you like to mail this? 1 day, 2 day, priority, first class? Do you want delivery confirmation? Insurance? Certified? Registered?
It's everywhere, every day. And it's enough to make you throw your hands up in the air and walk away shaking your head, thinking, "just forget it--it's making me dizzy to think about".

Supermarkets are a perfect example of too many options. If you shop in a typical grocery store there are hundreds of varieties of salad dressings, dozens of choices of coffees, even more different types of milk! These choices are a constant source of overwhelm, and make grocery shopping stressful for many people. If this is true for you, and makes eating healthy difficult as well, consider limiting your own choices.

My friend Katie is on a 'quick weight loss' commercial diet plan. She was telling me about it the other day, and how limited her choices are. She gets a special bar for breakfast, 4 ounces of chicken or fish for lunch and dinner, and a specified number of fruits and vegetables, milk, and whole grains during the day. She isn't allowed 'dark soda' or low fat dressing (salad dressing has to be a certain brand and it has to be fat free). "Why," she asks me, "can't I have low calorie dressing or diet cola?" I don't have an answer for her. I don't know why a colored beverage would affect her weight loss. I don't think having two tablespoons of low fat dressing will stop her from shedding the pounds. But I know she's dropping weight fast on this plan to the tune of about three pounds a week.

I have a friend who is a diet counselor at Jenny Craig. She tells me, "We tell people what to eat, and when to eat it". It takes their options away and they don't have to fret over all the decisions that precede each meal and snack.

Is Katie's weight loss a result of special combinations of food? By avoiding dark soda? By the magic breakfast bars? No. More than likely Katie is able to adhere to this diet because she doesn't have to make choices. She does have options, like what flavor breakfast bar to eat, and how to cook her chicken at dinner time. Same with the customers at Jenny Craig. The reason it works is they don't come home after work and walk in the door thinking, "what will I make for dinner? The number of possibilities are too much to bear--the easiest thing will be to pull out a take-out menu and order either Chinese or Italian--that's two choices and I can deal with that!"

Limiting your own options helps by taking away choices that can cause overwhelm. What can you plan in your daily diet that will help you make the best decision at each meal? Many studies show that people who eat the same breakfast and/or lunch each day find it easy to maintain their weight once they achieve their goal. Can you decide on a standard breakfast? For example, cereal and skim milk and fruit each morning? You can still have a variety of cereals to choose from so you don't get bored (raisin bran, grape nuts or oatmeal) and switch off fruits (banana or raisins or canteloupe) but you aren't faced with a mass of options each morning that leads you to decide, "donut--that's less work".

If joining a commercial weight loss program is what helps you, well, it's the end result that's most important. If you can do it yourself, that's great too. Think about some ways you can limit your options to two or three from each food group for every meal. It doesn't have to be a strict diet (like "I'll just eat tuna every day for 5 weeks"), but it can be a sensible plan that you can enjoy eating and find simple to follow ("I'll have a 300 calorie frozen meal for lunch every day with a piece of fresh fruit and a salad").
Limit your options to a few smart ones and see how this helps you, in your diet, and in your life!

September is National Food Safety Education Month

I'd like to give you a few simple reminders about food safety, since this is National Food Safety Education Month. Sometimes we take food safety for granted ... keeping leftovers out a bit too long until we get around to putting it away; leaving hot food at room temperature for hours until all the company has arrived; or taking a chance on eating ten day old take-out because "it smells okay"!

Here are five food safety tips to keep you and your family from getting food poisoning:
1. Cook food thoroughly: This means using a meat thermometer when cooking meat, fish, or chicken. All meats should be cooked to at least 145 degrees--even if rare--but poultry and pork should be cooked to at least 165 degrees, ground beef to 160 degrees. Always place the food thermometer in the thickest part of the food and away from the bone.
2. Cool food thoroughly: When putting away leftovers, allow food to cool down a bit before placing it in the refrigerator. If the leftover dish is quite large, consider dividing it into smaller portions. The refrigerator should be cold enough to keep chilled foods at 40 degrees or below.
3. Treat leftovers with care: Leftovers should be put away in the fridge or freezer within two hours. If you have company coming late and your meal is sitting out at room temperature, opt for keeping the food warm in the oven so that it doesn't cool down to less than 140 degrees. When re-heating leftovers, only warm up enough for you to eat at that sitting; continuing the cycle of reheating food, placing it back into the refrigerator, then reheating it again the next day, increases the chances of acquiring a foodborne illness.
4. Handwashing: Always wash your hands before cooking, after handling raw foods (such as meat or chicken), after using the restroom, and before eating. The number one cause of food-poisoning is poor handwashing. Use warm water, lots of soap, and rub your hands together to create friction for at least 20 seconds each time you wash your hands.
5. Avoid cross-contamination: This is what happens when you use the same knife, counter, or cutting board to cut raw chicken, then raw vegetables for a salad, or fresh fruits for dessert, or a loaf of bread. Just as your hands can spread germs to the food you will eat, so can a knife or a cutting surface. Any time a utensil comes in contact with raw meat it should be thoroughly washed before cutting anything else. Some people have a special cutting board, or special knives, they use just for raw meat, and another they use for fresh fruits or vegetables. Just be sure everyone who uses the kitchen knows the rules!

It all comes down to staying out of the danger zone (40-140 degrees) where bacteria grow easily and quickly, keeping HOT foods HOT and COLD foods COLD. And always remember, "When in doubt, throw it out"!

Free teleclass one week from today!

I'd like to tell you about next week's teleclass so you can mark it on your calendar! At 7 pm (central time) on Tuesday, September 9th, my guest host this month is Sandra Martin, RN, MHS. Sandra has been working in corporate wellness and health promotion for over 20 years, and now lead workshops on emotional fitness.

Please mark your calendars and be sure to join us to hear about a different approach to eating issues: the emotional side. Experience one of the skills that "The Solution" process teaches you to use to check in with your emotions before you eat.
Email me at laurie@mycoachlaurie.com to register. Attendance is free but space will be limited!

In the meantime, you can call in to hear last month's call (How to get more fruits and vegetables in your daily diet) to see what a teleclass is like--call 641-715-3414and enter access code 553407#
This recording will be available until September 9th, 2008.

Have You Included Enough Pleasure In Your Plan?

I was having a conversation today with a group of life coaches about life planning, and the question arose about how much fun and pleasure we should expect in our lives. The answers ranged from "there just can't be too much" to "the limit would be an amount that interferes with your responsiblities" to "anything can be fun if you make it fun--even housework!" It comes down to our attitude. If you want fun in your life, go for it! Fun and pleasure can be a major focus of what we want in life and we can gain it in several ways.

First, when you do have leisure time, plan something that would be fun for you or give you pleasure. It might be an activity, like riding a bike or taking a trip, or it might be just taking a nap. It doesn't have to be something unique and fantastic but it should be something you enjoy!
If there is something you want more of in your life, figure out a way to get it. To quote Charles Buxton: "You will never 'find' time for anything...if you want time you must make it"!

Second, you'll find optimism to be a very helpful mindset. Having a positive outlook really helps your brain stay open to more possibilities. Pessimism can have the effect of shutting your brain down to any new options. Optimism helps you see new ways, be open to trying new things. Training yourself to think positively can work wonders in helping you solve problems, develop plans, and take actions.

Finally, keep your long term goals in mind as well as your short term goals. What is important in your life, overall? An interesting musing I read this weekend was the distinction between pleasure and happiness: Pleasure is felt short term, like enjoying a massage, while happiness is experienced over the long term. If you choose to be happy, this will be affected by the decisions you make each day. Think about what you are doing during a typical day and how it may affect your overall happiness. Trying to lose weight? Having that donut may give you immediate pleasure, but will it contribute to your overall happiness or will it be sabotaging that goal?

What will give you pleasure, fun, and an improved outlook on life? Take a little time to think about it, make a plan, and enjoy living life on your terms starting today!